


Choices

by Emilx311



Series: Founders Drabbles [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Choices, Don't copy to another site, Drabble, Gen, Light Angst, Naruto Founders Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-18 01:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19966156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emilx311/pseuds/Emilx311
Summary: Tobirama has made his choices, and he does not regret them.





	Choices

**Author's Note:**

> For Founders week, Day 3: Choices. Probably the longest piece I will do for this event, but Tobi was being talkative.

Tobirama had made his choices. He was not proud of all of them, but he had made them none the less. And he was not upset with where they had led him. He had been forced to make many choices in his life, some small every day things, more life-changing. Choices whose effects went far beyond him. He had bucked up under the weight and expectations of them, had born it for his clan as he was meant to. He had never allowed himself to show doubt, uncertainty, or regret. His position did not allow for such things, not when so many others looked to him and his choices for guidance.

He had chosen to be the son his father wanted, his perfect soldier. He had seen how his brother struggled with living up to their father’s wishes and had stepped in to spare Hashirama. He had chosen to push himself harder, to ask their father for more training so his brother would not have to. And he did not regret that. Did not regret it even as his brother used the freedom to run away to the forest. Did not regret it even as his brother began looking at him and seeing his father in his place. Did not regret choosing to do all he could to prolong his brother’s childhood and innocence.

He also did not regret following his brother to the river. Did not regret leading his father there that day. Had he not done so the Uchiha would have slaughtered Hashirama (why could his brother never see that?). He did not regret engaging with Izuna. He did not regret parting Hashirama from the one other person that could see the world as he did (Madara had chosen his family, they would have parted there regardless, at least this way his brother was still alive).

He refused to regret giving his all to the fighting between their clan and the Uchiha. Every Uchiha he cut down was a soldier who would not longer be able to harm his family. He didn’t regret fighting with Izuna again and again. The second Uchiha son was strong and if he didn’t block him Senju would die on his blade. He is not like his brother; he cannot hold his strength back. If he had he would have died and there was no one strong enough to take up his mantle in his clan (not even Touka). He does not regret fighting with everything he had, does not regret using his strength to serve and protect his clan.

Despite all the trouble it brought he also does not regret striking down Izuna. The other man was an enemy and would have killed him had he the chance. He would have then gone on to kill many more of his kin. The Senju were his clan, as the heir and one of their strongest it was his duty to protect them. He does not regret killing Izuna because every time he thinks of doing otherwise, he thinks of Touka’s cackle being silenced, of the smiles and laughter of kin giving way to horror and death. He loves the Senju too much to regret killing to save them.

He certainly did not regret supporting his brother’s plans for peace and his village. Konoha was beautiful, and everything he’d wanted for his brothers but been unable to imagine. He loved it as fiercely as he loved Hashirama, and would do anything for it. To that end, he did not regret taking on the work his brother was unable to focus on. Did not regret the long nights spent with paper and candles and no recognition for his services. Did not regret working in the dark for things his brother was praised for in the light. Hashirama was happy and the village thriving and that was all the reward he needed. The Senju lived and were able to grow old. Children could remain children for longer and were given a chance to truly grow in to their potential before being forced to fight. He did not regret the many dark deeds he had been forced to do to ensure that.

He did not regret taking on the mantle of Hokage after his brother had passed. He did not regret stepping from the shadows to lead in the light. Did not regret being given the chance to steer the village he loved from the helm. Would not regret the choices he made to help it grow and flourish and be strong. Did not regret making himself a target so that others would not need to be. Besides, there was no one else left who could do it, and better him bare the burden than someone unprepared and unable. He would spare others the weight the hat carried, the responsibilities and the sorrows.

The thing he regretted least was choosing to take on students. He had always loved teaching, and he loved the six he had mentored as his own. It did not matter to him what clan they came from; they were his and they were his pride. He considered them the best choice, the best thing, he had done in his life. They were the future of the village he loved and he knew they would lead it well. With that in mind, he absolutely did not regret choosing to give up his life for theirs. That they would live was a comfort, and he could not have chosen otherwise. Could not have, would never have chosen to let one of them die when he could take the burden instead.

Yes, Tobirama had made many choices in his life. In his heart of hearts there were some he regrets (Madara, if he had apologized, if he had reached out, if he had told Hashirama of how odd the other’s chakra was, if he had been less suspicious, if, if, if) but most he did not. He did not regret the way he had chosen to live and he did not regret the way he had chosen to die. He was content that he had made his choices as best he could at the time and he was content with his choice to end things here. It had been a hard life, with many hard choices, but he had chosen and refused to regret that.

**Author's Note:**

> My [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/emilx311)


End file.
